New Delhi: Air India on Sunday (July 5) announced that under the Vande Bharat Mission, it will be conducting 36 flights between the United States and India from July 11 to July 19, 2020.
Air India, in its statement, said that the tickets may be booked through Air India website only effective 20:00 hours (IST) on 6 July, equivalent to New York (EDT 1030 hrs of 6′ July 2020), Chicago (CDT 0930 hrs of 6 July 2020) & San Francisco (PDT 0730 hrs of 6 July 2020).
Earlier, the Trump administration had imposed restrictions on Air India’s ‘Vande Bharat’ repatriation flights that are carrying Indians from the United States in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The US Department of Transportation had announced that it had barred Air India from operating chartered flights between India and the United States without its prior approval.
Therefore, on 23 June, the Aviation Ministry had said that India is considering establishing “individual bilateral bubbles” with US, UK, Germany, and France which will allow airlines of each country in the pact to operate international flights.
As per news agency PTI, under the fourth phase of the mission, Air India will be conducting 170 flights connecting India with Canada, the US, the UK, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Myanmar, Japan, Ukraine, and Vietnam.
India had resumed domestic passenger flight operations from May 25, 2020, after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown across the country. But International Air travel is suspended as of now.
Earlier this week, India’s aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had announced that International air travel to and from India will remain suspended till July 31.
In its latest guidelines for Unlock 2.0, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that international air travel of passengers has been permitted in a limited manner under the Vande Bharat mission and further opening-up will take place in a calibrated manner.
Earlier, the Aviation Mister had said: “Any suggestion that international air traffic has opened up and we are the only ones not to open up needs a reality check. The exact time when we will resume international flights depends on other countries to be open to receive flights.”
